How Do I Live Presently in the Light of My Heavenly Inheritance? (1 Peter 1:13-25)

Hello, friends.

This is Pastor Creighton.

Thank you for tuning in to Newsong Church's Sermon Podcast.

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Our second lesson is taken from the book of 1 Peter, chapter 1, verses 13 to 25.

1 Peter 1:13–25

Therefore, preparing your minds for action and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance.

But as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, You shall be holy, for I am holy.

And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one's deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile, knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.

He was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.

Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, since you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God.

For all flesh is like grass, and all its glory like the flower of grass.

The grass withers and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord remains forever.

And this word is the good news that was preached to you, the word of the Lord.

Set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

Let's pray.

Lord Jesus, stay with us.

Open to us through the illumination of your Holy Spirit, the scriptures, and lead us to yourself.

Meet us here, meet us at your table, because we need you.

You are our God, and we give you thanks and praise.

It's in your name, Lord, we pray.

Amen.

Please be seated.

So imagine with me for a moment a children's piano recital.

Maybe imagining that is not too hard for some of us.

We're at a children's piano recital, and there are two students in particular who catch our eye.

One is a very uh new, very young beginner player who gets up to pluck away uh Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.

And with every little hesitation and with every little mistake, makes their way through this piece of music and then comes back to sit down.

Then later, a little later on in the program, there's an older student, much more experienced, very gifted student, who gets down, who gets to the piano and, I don't know, let's let's say flawlessly makes their way through Claire Delun, right?

One of the great piano classics, at least it's one of my favorites.

And so maybe this little guy's feeling kind of dejected because clearly he didn't, you know, pull off what this student just did.

But his teacher leans in and says to him, I'm so proud of you, you're going to be a great musician someday.

Now, maybe there's one of two possible thoughts that crossed this little guy's mind.

One is the idea that the future is full of hope.

And because the future is full of hope, that one day I too can be a great musician and play music that just as beautiful as this, maybe even more beautiful, suddenly that little student is infused with a desire to give himself completely to this craft.

I want to be the very best musician I can be, so I'm going to get to my scales.

I'm going to learn my theory, and I'm going to take the time that it takes to become that great musician.

Future is full of hope, so it matters in the present what that little student does.

But let's say another thought were to cross that little student's mind.

Maybe this one's a little more unreasonable, although if it's me, it crosses my mind all the time.

Something like this.

He hears you're going to be a great musician someday, and he goes, That's so great.

I'm going to quit lessons right now.

I don't need them because I'm going to be a great musician someday.

Someday when I'm 20 years old, I'll just sit at the piano again and I'll crack out Clara Delune, right?

Because someday I'm going to be a great musician.

Well, we know that's unreasonable.

It's not the way this works.

The future hope of being a great musician needs to inform the present.

The choices, the deliberate choices that are made now are going to inform that hope being realized in the future.

See, see what the point I'm trying to get across here is the future hope we have informs our present, doesn't it?

They're not two separate things.

The future bleeds into our present, and the present anticipates the future.

I think what's true for this little musician is true of the spiritual life as well.

I think the hope we have for our future, the destination, the direction we're going, that great bright future is going to inform our present, isn't it?

The choices that we make and the shape our life takes.

The word that Peter has for the future is inheritance, and we read that last week in our 1 Peter reading.

Here's 1 Peter verse 3.

He says, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you.

So, friends, the hope for us as Christians is a heavenly inheritance that will one day be fully realized.

As sure as Christ's resurrection, we have this inheritance pledged to us.

That is a bright future.

To share in Christ's heavenly kingdom, to partake in his resurrection, to share with him his glory.

This is our inheritance as Christians.

And like this little guy, we can say, Great, I quit lessons right now.

One day it's going to happen.

Or we press into this hope.

We let our present anticipate where our future is going, and we live presently in light of that future inheritance.

Peter begins our passage today with this important word, therefore.

And when we see a therefore, there's an important question we want to ask.

Does anyone know what it is?

What is it there for?

Peter's been making a point, and now he wants to apply that point to our lives.

What does it look like to live in light of this heavenly inheritance?

I think Peter has at least three things in mind.

Here's how the present anticipates that heavenly inheritance.

One, living in light of our inheritance means we live in revelation hope.

Two, we live in reverent fear.

Three, we live in real love.

How do Christians live presently in light of their future inheritance?

In resurrection hope, in reverent fear, and in real love.

Things have yet to be fully realized.

This country we occupy right now, though God is at work in it, is not our home.

That's yet to be fully realized.

That is our heavenly inheritance.

So let's press into what that means for us today and see how it shapes our lives.

What does it look like to live in light of our inheritance?

One, we live in revelation hope.

Let's look at verse 13.

If you've got your Bible, if you've got your order of service, turn with me here to 1 Peter chapter 1, verse 13.

1 Peter 1:13

Peter says this therefore, preparing your minds for action and being sober-minded, being clear-headed, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

So there's this play that you might be familiar with.

It's a play by Samuel Beckett called Waiting for Godot.

Does anyone know this play?

It's a really weird play.

I do not recommend, but it serves the purpose of my illustration here.

So it's a it's like an absurdist existentialist play, right?

With these two characters of Vladimir and Estragon, who have just who are waiting in a particular place at a particular time for this character named Godot who may or may not show up.

And everything that happens in the play is meant to illustrate just how absurd and meaningless life is when we try and find purpose in it.

Godot may or may not show up, so why wait at all, really?

Maybe is the subtext of the play.

And I think it's no small kind of shot across the bow for Christians who live life in anticipation of a future revelation of our Lord Jesus.

Maybe it's an objection to living with this hope.

It's groundless.

We don't know if Godot is going to show up or not.

Why waste our time waiting?

Peter wants his generation, this early generation of Christians, just like our own, to understand that our hope is not, it's not wishful thinking.

We talked about that last week, didn't we?

There's a difference between convicted hope and wishful thinking.

Peter wants us to know that our hope is grounded in the reality of the resurrection to which he is an eyewitness.

As surely as Christ is raised from the dead, we have a living hope in him.

And now, because he has promised to return, as sure as God's word is certain, as he will accomplish by his power what he's promised to do, we will receive him.

He'll be revealed.

The word here is apocalypsis, Christ's revelation of himself, his return, or what the Bible calls the day of the Lord, which will happen suddenly and imminently.

It will renew creation as he establishes his kingdom in glory.

This is our hope for the future.

Christ will return.

And so from one generation to the next, we wait with vigilance, with watchfulness, with mindfulness, always ready for our Lord Jesus to return, because if he's promised to do that, as surely as he's raised from the dead, he will return.

We're not waiting for Godot.

We're waiting with conviction, with assurance of his promise.

But as we're waiting, as we wait with this revelation hope, we put it into practice, Peter understands, through personal holiness.

Personal holiness is like revelation hope put into action.

Let's look at verse 14 here.

Peter continues this thought.

He says, As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance.

But as he who has called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct.

Since it is written, You shall be holy, for I am holy.

So don't choose, Peter says, what belongs to your former ignorance.

Your deceitful desires, those things that lead us astray from the love of God.

It's a little like um like offering a child two coins, right?

One is a nickel, one is a dime.

We know which one is worth more, but which one is a child going to pick?

The bigger one.

We do that all the time, don't we?

Except not with nickels and dimes.

It's like with a with a tarnished nickel and with an absolute unfathomable fortune in Christ.

We see the shiny nickel and we go, that's the one I want.

I mean, that's living in accordance with our former ignorance.

There was a time where we didn't know that there was a fortune to be had, but now in Christ we see a revelation hope.

And so choosing the treasure means choosing to live in accordance with that hope, conforming our character to the God who reveals himself to us.

We are holy because he is holy.

The great Bishop J.C.

Ryle writes in his book Holiness that holiness is the habit of being of one mind with God, according as we find his mind described in Scripture.

It is the habit of agreeing in God's judgment, hating what he hates, loving what he loves, and measuring everything in this world by the standard of his word.

In other words, if we want to know the mind of God, if we want to know what accords with his character, how we practice holiness, we come to his word.

We become diligent students of it.

We ask questions of it.

We ask those questions with one another because we want to understand the heart and mind of God so we can put into practice his character in our lives.

And the more we put into practice his character, the more our hearts are set on this revelation hope of Jesus.

You tracking with me?

See, it's this hope of the fullest disclosure, the fullest revelation of Christ, that fills us with a desire to practice his character.

And that should fill us, friends, with awe.

This is what Peter understands.

Living in light of this inheritance in Christ means we live in revelation hope, but it also means we live in reverent fear.

Verse 17.

And if you call on him as Father, who judges impartially according to each one's deeds, conduct yourself with fear throughout the time of your exile, knowing that you are ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb, without blemish or spot.

Conduct yourselves, Peter says, with fear.

Does that sound really odd?

Maybe really old school churchy language.

Is that unsettling?

Maybe we think we've got enough fear in our world right now.

Why do we feel like we need to introduce more fear at church?

And that's fair.

It's something to wrestle with.

But I think we need to be clear what Peter's got in mind when he uses this word fear.

What he's describing is not a feeling of terror, right?

Not a fear of punishment, like God's gonna squash me at any given point.

That's not so much what Peter's getting at, but there's a certain kind of fear that comes with reverence and awe.

That's why we call it a reverent fear, not a terrorized fear, but a reverent fear.

And I get that sometimes, you know, relationships we've had, maybe our home, maybe our relationship says here our father judges impartially.

Maybe our relationship with our earthly father left us filled with nothing but fear.

And so I understand that.

Maybe if it's easier to substitute a word like reverence or awe, go ahead and do that.

But what we're talking about is not terror.

We're not talking about a shrinking away.

We're talking about the awe that comes with God's glory and goodness.

Here's what theologian Michael Reeves writes in a wonderful book called Rejoice and Tremble, the surprising good news of the fear of the Lord.

He says this: the fear of God does not mean being afraid of God.

He goes on to say, true fear of God is a true love for God defined.

It is the right response to God's full-orbed revelation of himself in his grace and glory.

Is that making sense?

God shows himself just how, not just how majestic he is, but how wonderful he is.

That should fill us with awe.

That fills us with reverent fear, the kind that Peter is getting at.

Reverent fear understands that God is both the judge, which he describes him in verse 17, and the Redeemer, the one who's ransomed us in verse 18.

It holds on to both, not one or the other.

Sometimes we pit both one or the other against one another.

God is the judge, so our preaching comes down hard.

Maybe.

Or God is our redeemer, but don't worry about that judgment stuff.

Let's just talk about the nice stuff.

Reverend fear of the Lord holds on to both.

But it always bears in mind that our judge is also our Redeemer, who ransomed us with the precious blood of Jesus Christ.

If ever we are left afraid, we have to look at the cross to be reminded that that is the one who is going to pronounce the final judgment over me.

The one who has given himself completely for me.

The one who is raised to new life that I can share in his new life.

Friends, the judgment on the final day, when we confess the Apostles' Creed, we believe in Jesus Christ, he will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead.

Friends, that verdict has already been delivered.

In Christ, we're left assured, we won't be surprised by the verdict on the last day.

For those of us who have repented from our sins and believe in the gospel, the verdict is sure, and we hear it each and every Sunday in our comfortable words.

They're comforting to us.

Reverent fear of the Lord should lend itself to assurance and not terror.

Knowing our judge is also our Redeemer fills us with a sense of peace.

Because we approach Him, holy God as He is, knowing that He has given Himself for us.

It's a little like it's summer.

We're heading into summer.

It's not summer yet.

Certainly not today.

But we're heading into summer, and summer is campfire season, and that's one of my favorite things to do in the summer.

And I know many of us will gather around the campfire this summer.

When we see a campfire, we don't run away in terror, do we?

It's fire, and fire in the wrong context, that's something to run away from.

But we don't go running away from a campfire, but neither are we careless with the campfire, right?

Flippantly playing around with it.

You play with fire, what's going to happen, right?

You're going to get burned.

Fear of the Lord, reverent fear of the Lord, is a little like this.

We are drawn to the warmth of God's grace, and it warms and illuminates our fellowship, but neither are we careless and flippant.

Right?

Our God is a consuming fire.

So we hold on to both, and we gather to them by grace.

Living in light of our inheritance means we live in revelation hope.

Our Lord Jesus will return.

It means we live in reverent fear, knowing that the Judge is also our Redeemer who has delivered us and saved us.

And our life lives in response to that verdict that has already been issued.

It is finished.

Finally, Peter understands that living in light of our future inheritance means we live in real love.

Let's look at verses 22 to 23 as we land here.

Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, since you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable.

Through the living and abiding word of God.

So, one thing we should probably notice in these verses is that the kind of love Peter is talking about is not mushy feelings, is it?

It's not the feeling, the fuzziness of love.

That's nice.

I mean, there's nothing wrong with feeling the fuzziness, but those feelings only last for so long.

An earnest love is something that's deeper, something that's put into practice.

Here's an interesting thing he says.

Having purified your souls by obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, a love that we share as a Christian family.

Obedience leads to an earnest love.

And that kind of sounds weird to our ears.

What does obedience have to do with love?

If you command something, are you responding out of love when you follow through with that?

Jesus himself says, if you love me, you'll obey my commandments, doesn't he?

See, it's a heart that longs after the Lord, that wants to follow through with what he says.

Commands become an opportunity to put that love into practice.

And real love, Peter understands, issues from a pure heart.

Love one another earnestly from a pure heart.

The formation of our character matters.

The pure in heart, they shall see God, we're told in the Beatitudes.

In fact, in 1 Corinthians 13, which is the great love chapter, right?

We read it at weddings and everything else.

What does it say about love?

How is love defined?

Love is fuzzy, love is easy, love is, no, that's not it, is it?

Love is patient, love is kind.

Love does not envy or boast.

It is not arrogant or rude.

It does not insist on its own way.

It is not irritable or resentful.

It does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.

Fuzzy feelings may fit in there somewhere, but love, earnest love, sounds like a real deliberate choice.

It's the choice to will the good of the other, even at my own expense.

And friends, I have to think that's good news for us, because love can sometimes, well, it can be a fickle thing to just chase those feelings, can't it?

I mean, think of a parent with a child.

That parent earnestly loves that child, and that child earnestly loves the parent.

And there are times, those of you who are parents know that it comes time to come down and issue a straight, direct instruction.

And let's say you told them, don't touch the cookies on the stove, so to speak, with their very best interest in mind, and someone came along and said, you know, you really ought not to be doing that, because you're limiting that child's freedom.

And if you really want that child's sincere love, then, you know, you ought to let the child spontaneously choose to not take the cookies, so to speak.

It's maybe an absurd example, but there you have it.

I mean, what we know intuitively is that when a parent gives an instruction like that to a child, not only do they have their best in mind, but they are giving that child an opportunity to reciprocate that love in their obedience.

So too, friends, when our Lord Jesus says, if you love me, you will obey my commands.

He has our best in mind, and he is giving us an opportunity to express our love.

Not just when it feels fuzzy and nice, but when it's the difficult thing to do.

When it takes a deliberate action of our will to submit ourselves to that command.

It frees us from the tyranny of how we feel, from our fickle feelings.

Love is a deliberate choice.

That's true in obeying God and obedience.

That's true earnestly loving one another as brothers and sisters.

Because, friends, sometimes it's difficult to love others, isn't it?

I'm not the only one who feels that way, right?

Love ain't easy sometimes.

And sometimes we think if love ain't easy, then it ain't love.

But I love what C.S.

Lewis says about this.

He reflects that when you're behaving, pardon me, if you want to, if you want to love someone or earnestly love someone, you gotta start with the actions of love and let the feelings follow.

He writes that when you're behaving as if you loved someone, you will presently come to love him.

If you injure someone you dislike, you'll find yourself disliking him more, but if you do him a good turn, you'll find him disliking him less.

Sounds pretty pragmatic, but that's the point.

Love is a deliberate action.

What if we took the actions of love toward one another and let everything else follow?

What if living in light of our inheritance, living in light of the Savior who loved us so much that he gave himself for us to raise us to new life, who promises us future glory, all because of the great love with which he loved us?

What if we put that kind of love into practice with one another?

What kind of witness could New Song give to our community?

We could be the body of Christ that loves one another earnestly with a pure heart, choosing the actions of love.

What a wonderful witness to the gospel that is.

So, friends, we have an unbelievable inheritance in Christ.

We are promised a kingdom, a share in God's glory, resurrection life.

And friends, that hope bleeds into our presence.

We anticipate it as we live into that hope, don't we?

In revelation hope, putting it into practice through personal holiness, choosing to love what God loves, living in reverent fear, holding on to the fact that our judge is also our redeemer, we're left with assurance.

And finally, we live in real love towards one another because that is the love we have received from God in Christ.

So, friends, our inheritance is great.

Let's live enlighten it of it.

Amen.

Thank you for listening today.

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May God bless you and keep you today and every day.